A DEADLY cocktail of prescription pills killed a man as he battled a chest infection, an inquest heard.

David Caines, 33, stopped breathing after taking a combination of drugs to help him with the pain of the infection.

At the inquest into his death, pathologist Dr Fraser Charlton revealed that high levels of morphine, diazepam and codeine were found in his blood. The levels of each drug alone would not have been enough to prove fatal, but taken together alongside the bronchial pneumonia he was suffering created a lethal cocktail.

And Newcastle coroner Karen Dilks recorded a verdict of death by misadventure.

Speaking at the hearing his aunt Hazel Caines told how he was like the son she never had and she saw him every day.

She said: “David would never have harmed himself on purpose. He wasn’t perfect, but he loved his family and his bairns.

“He just said he had been feeling a bit chesty and must have taken something to try and help him sleep.

“He was in good spirits the last time I saw him.”

She added: “I couldn’t have children and he was the son I never had. He told me I was the mum he’d never had.”

The builder’s dad Billy discovered his body on February 6 as he attempted to wake his only son for a doctor’s appointment.

David, known to his friends as Cainsy, also leaves behind his dad, 59, mum Helen, 51, son Dylan, 16, daughter Georgia, 11, and their mum, Kelly Hunter, 33.

Billy, who shared a home with his son at Church Street in Walker, has told how he walks miles every day just to get out of the house filled with painful memories of his only son.

He said: “I still keep thinking he’s going to walk in the door or give me a ring. He was my best friend.”

The inquest heard that David was suffering from bronchial pneumonia which would have restricted his breathing. The drugs he had taken also depress breathing, he explained, and as a result he fell into a deep sleep until he eventually stopped breathing. He added there was no evidence of heroin in his system.

The hearing also heard from community psychiatrist Wendy Lumsden, who had treated David for depression and alcohol abuse in 2010/11.

But she told the inquest that at her last meeting with him there had been no evidence of suicidal thoughts.

David was described as a warm-hearted, fun and caring family man who put his two children first.

Billy said: “Everywhere David went, people would know him and their faces would light up when he walked into the room.

“He was so funny and would help anyone. He loved Kelly and the bairns and he wanted to be with them 24/7.”

At the time of his death, his ex partner Kelly Hunter said: “He was my soulmate, even when we weren’t together he was my best friend.

“It think about him every day still, we were very close. It feels like a part of me has been ripped out.